This post is due by Tuesday, January 21 @ midnight for full credit.
Email late posts to rwilliamsATchamplain.edu for partial credit.
Read the assigned chapters above, and then:
1. Provide 3 SPECIFIC observations about the Arab Spring you learned from EACH chapter of our book, using 2-3 sentences combining the book and your own IYOW analysis.
2. Finally, ask ONE specific question you have of the Arab Spring after completing our reading.
Megan Spiezio-Davis
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 4 Gelvin argues several points at why Algeria was expected to have the next set of uprisings. He also explains a few reasons why these uprisings may not have occurred. For instance it was very possible for Algeria to be the next Arab country facing a revolution, yet it did not. Scholars believed all the patterns were there and the writing on the wall was obvious. Though all observable factors seemed in place, it seems to me that the lack of young people is what caused a lack of evolution. Gelvin explains that there was a massive sweep of young people leaving the country to find a better life elsewhere. I think this played a part in the lack of movement towards an uprising.
As I was reading Chapter 5 I did find the attention on monarchy rule relevant in understanding the Middle East. To a lay person it has seemed that monarchies have held back this area of the world. It was interesting to read why the monarchies are so embedded in the lives of the citizens of these countries. Gelvin lays out three reasons why this is, the first being that it is tradition; the second is that religion plays a role in the leadership of these countries and the third deals with tribalism. These are reasons why the inhabitants of these countries find monarchies so popular; however it is thought provoking as to why the U.S. supports these monarchies. The role that the U.S. plays in keeping monarchies powerful is intriguing. I am not sure how sincere our motives are for rallying for a democracy when we financially support a monarchy.
Lastly, chapter 6 talks about U.S intervention. I do believe that the freedom agenda did help inspire Arabs to fight for their beliefs. Whether have the U.S. but its nose in angered Arabs to push for a revolution or if the words of Bush did make any difference, I would like to think that through all this time The U.S. has done more than just search and kill for terrorist or oil.
The Muslim brotherhood has been referred to numerous times in the book. I would like to learn more about that organization and explore its role both in the Middle East as well as globally.
Chapter 4- Algeria nationalized its oil and natural gas industries in the 1960's making them the first in the Arab world to do so. Algeria lacks the number of young professionals that Tunisia and Egypt have. The Syrian uprising was spontaneous rather than planned out to perfection.
ReplyDeleteChapter 5- I never realized that the Arab world was made up of mostly monarchies nor did I realize that religion played such a huge role in who leads the countries. The Bahrain king tried to give money to all the families to try and stop the protests but they continued anyway.
Chapter 6- It is not proven that the U.S had any role in getting Arabs to fight for their beliefs but there are logical connections to the Freedom Agenda. It seems to be too difficult to pinpoint the U.S role in the uprisings and American influence depends on how the uprisings play out.
How powerful is the Muslim Brotherhood and what are they doing for the Arab world?
Part One
ReplyDeleteChapter 4: Two Surprises
- I had no idea that Algeria had "led the battle for Third World economic rights in the 1970s" but is Algeria really a trendsetter? and if so then why was it that experts opinions on "who would be next?" in Arab uprisings wrong?
- If some Arab countries like Algeria can form groups such as the National Coordination for Change and Democracy (CNCD) then why haven't there been pushes for a government system run by the common man and woman? I can't fathum how truly difficult it may be to create such a thing but by seeing the passion of people in the Middle East, well I just feel I have to ask the question.
- Syria's government having a history of being "brutal" and not to be dealt with shouldn't be a factor in why experts thought that Syria wouldn't be next to have riots, revolutions, lobbying etc etc. Rather I think that because of their military and their apporach to situations using violence would be more cause to go against the government.
Chapter 5: The Monarchies
- Why are we simplifying the Arab world essentially into three varying traits as to why there are monarchies there? I like to think that people of the Middle East are just as complex and in-depth as any other nation, if not more so.
- I've had a vauge understanding of the Middle Eastern culture/history but I never really knew that these monarchies went this far back and could at times be this complicated. What doesn't surprise me however is how much influence there was from outside sources (that being Western culture in general over the years).
- Have these monarchies stayed around for this long primarily because of outside influences? Political, cultural, idealogical etc.
Part Two
ReplyDeleteChapter 6: Stepping Back
- From what I've read in this chapter we as a Western culture and society come in the Middle East, make deals, treaties and conversate with the high up officials of whatever country we are currently putting our influence upon. We always seem to have an agenda and then an alternate agenda on top of that, we empower the already powerful and leave the people working underneath them to suffer it out. I believe that it is in part because we are a consumerism, we're just concerned on the benifits we will get out of helping them. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with thinking of your own country but its another matter entirely when our officials say that we are promoting democracy when really all we're doing is securing assets. If these people didn't have these massive amounts of oil in resources then I would really doubt Western countries would be there in the first place.
- Why are we lying to those whom we are invading for a democratic agenda and then on top of that why are we lying to ourselves that we are really there to promote democracy?
- Have Al-Qaeda and other power sources fighting for control over governments etc gained power through our pressence and through our efforts to establish a better government system? I think yes that is something that we are dealing with but something needed to happen, I cannot say that all the outcomes will be 100% positive but the current established governement systems are not working as well as one would hope for them to.
Branching and somewhat answering my own question from last week I think that there is some significant progress being made in the Middle East with these Arab Uprisings. A lot of these countries are/were at a tipping point where something needed to give because the people were restless and fed up with how their government was structured and how sometimes it only seemed to serve the rich, government officials and higher ups. My question this week is that some of these major uprisings happened because someone took a very drastic and unfortunate step towards a better country. One in my mind at the moment is Tunisia, where a man set himself on fire. Is this the appropriate action? Is there no other way to inspire change and a unified people supporting a government structure of their own design? Does it always need violence to start the fire?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteOne new thing I have learned after reading chapter 4 was how the uprising in Syria began. Unlike Egypt where be the protests began it was much more prepared. Whereas in Syria the uprising was spontaneous. It just suddenly began without much preparation. Furthermore, three days after the March 15 demonstration in Damascus the uprising in Syria started to get more loose and dirty. To the point where ten schoolchildren were arrested because of supporting a slogan and even they were tortured in prison as well. The situation in Syria was not looking good when the uprising started to get more wild and police started to shoot at the protesters which made the situation much worse than it was before.
Chapter 5:
As I was reading chapter 5 I found interesting that their are still so many monarchs in the Arab world. Although, the before I only knew that Saudi and Jordan were ruled by monarchs but didn't knew that their were more Arab countries as well that were also ruled by monarchs. Moreover, I also found interesting that some of these monarchs are super rich and some are super poor because of oil. For instance, some of these Arab countries have more oil than the others which why it makes a difference in their wealth. In addition it was also surprising for me to see that the Saudi's have helped their people a lot by creating new jobs, higher wages, and bonus. Similarly the Bahrain government also helped its people by giving money to every Bahraini family and even after that the protests still continued which is very sad.
Chapter 6:
And lastly in chapter 6, as far as the US intervention in the Middle East is concerned about. Although, the US might say that they want to get to Middle East because of the democratic agenda but reality is simple and that is because of oil. And that is why US is in the Middle East. Although some Americans might think that the US is helping the Middle East in bringing them freedom but that is not true it's all because of oil.
Question:
Has the Muslim Brotherhood had any impact on the Arab Uprisings or not?
ReplyDeleteSteven Chandler
1/21/14
Chapter 4
In chapter 4 i learned about Algerian protest of 2011, They protested about things like price hikes. Most of the strikes at that time was triggered by economic grievance. An organization called CNCD was formed around this time.The first demonstration led by them, failed and the route was blocked by riot police. How many times does your protest have to fail before you decide to call it quits?
Chapter 5
As i was reading through chapter 5, the subtopic that caught me, was how Arab monarchs react to protests. What was interesting, was the fact that they used 2 extremes to handle things. On one note they’d try to relieve economic pressures to make the people happy, and on another they’d use force to handle situations. At which point do they realize that force is necessary?
Chapter 6
In chapter 6 i looked at the state of the Israel-Palestine conflict at the time of the first uprisings. When the uprisings began in 2010, the conflict had been stalemated for years. When will the stalemate be over?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that Algeria is often in the forefront of the Arab world. I had always assumed Egypt held that title. It still surprises me when things like Syria lowering the age from 40 to 37 to be president for Bashar, happen. I did not know that Assad was in the religious minority in Syria.
Chapter 5:
I did not know that England was the backer for most of the Monarchies in the Arab world. I am interested in the relationship between money and power, like how the President of UAE has only come from Abu Dhabi. I did not know that Bahrain, which is not considered oil rich, still gets 60% of its money from oil.
Chapter 6:
I am amazed at how people can overlook what I perceive to be human nature. I do not know why the Bush Administration would assume that the ruling autocrats would take themselves out of power, nobody wants to fire them self. I think the inner workings of the White House are very interesting, like being told a secret. It was cool to learn that the Obama Administration wanted to focus more on China and the Pacific Rim than the Middle East. I am surprised it took until the Obama Administration to look at each country on a case by case basis.
Question:
What role has oil played in the Arab Spring?
Chapter 4
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that Algeria was such a player in the Arab world. I rarely hear about events there, an thus i assumed to was a kind of docile place. I learned that they are, in fact, Arab trend setters and "where ever the Middle East is going, Algeria will get there first". Also, in their war against imperialist France, they basically legitimized and glorified the violent fight against the outside invader, which is a theme we have seen grow quite a bit.
In that same chapter, i was also pleasantly surprised to see Assad's interview before the Syrian Civil War broke out. Obviously there are many different factors that contribute to the ongoing violence in Syria, but i though it was funny how Assad emphasized how government should be close with the beliefs of the population, and should take that ideological factor into consideration when preforming its duties. He seemed quite confident of his stance in the interview. It doesn't seem to have worked out for him very well though.
Chapter 5
I was surprised quite a bit by the number of Monarchies in the Arab world. Usually, at least for me, the word "Monarchy" brings up thoughts of classical Britain and France, but here we have modern ones, and in the Middle East. I was aware of at least the one in Qatar, as the ruling royal family there actually created and runs Al Jazeera and all its affiliates if i remember correctly, but to have the most in the world is astonishing. These Monarchies, especially closer to the Persian Gulf are extremely oil-rich in terms of their state revenue. Even Bahrain, which is considered "oil-poor" obtains 60% of their revenue from it. This massive income is a double edged sword however. The money being made is no doubt beneficial to the country, but because there is so much, the population can become weary of how it is used and distributed responsibly. While some uses are good and can help to better the lives of the citizens, that is no always the case. This type od situation can "contribute to the disaffection of governments". Which basically means people will begin to turn on the ruling body and thus you have a revolution.
Chapter 6
On Obama coming into office, i thought it was funny how is top military officials thought we had spent too much time and money in the Middle East. While i completely agree, i thought it was funny because their reasoning was "we haven't spent enough time and money in Asia and the Pacific regions. The USA cant just not sit still. I also think it was a bit silly for him to put so much focus on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Please understand, I only think it was silly because they believed if they could straighten Israel and Palestine out, the rest of the Middle East would kind of fall into place. Obviously the conflict is vital to the stability in the region, but to think all your other problems will disappear just seems irrational. No matter what the outcome is there will always be people who are unhappy with it. And in that area the probability of violence is much greater.
Ch. 4
ReplyDelete-In this chapter, basically everything I read about Algeria was new information. First I had no idea Algeria was a trendsetter in the Middle East. It is not surprising to hear that a successful uprising failed when reading all of the possible contributions involved in their failing attempts.
-Secondly, I found it interesting the Bashar Al-Assad had a reputation as a reformer prior to the Syrian uprising. It was also interesting to read the history of how he came into office and the death of his brother.
-Lastly, when reading just how complicated the situation in Syria is, for all players involved, it is hard to imagine how the situation could play out. There are so many different parties involved with many different interests I struggle to see how anything will be resolved.
Ch. 5
- One thing I had wondered upon learning more about the Middle East was discussed in the beginning of this chapter. While the author discusses the question of why there are so many monarchies in the Arab world he does not give much of an answer. However it was interesting to read and informing nonetheless.
-Secondly it was interesting to learn how Jordan was created. I feel like much of the Middle Eastern borders were created by foreign powers and the whole country of Jordan is no exception, being created by the British.
-Lastly it was interesting to read about the uprising in Bahrain. Bahrain is another country I know very little about and to learn that their uprisings were the first that were squashed by foreign military force was very interesting.
Ch. 6
-This last chapter is somewhat depressing due to its focus on the United States. I knew that Obama obviously has acted in the Middle East on more of a country by country basis, it is saddening to know that his approval rating is lower than that of George Bush's at the end of his final term.
-Secondly, it was somewhat alarming to read that there is no definitive answer to if al-Qaeda is being weakened by the uprisings. While this is a question that most likely does not have the same answer in every country, it is still important. It also speaks to how important the success of the uprisings are, which can help provide people of the Middle East with hope.
-Lastly, and this can goes along with my previous observation, is that it is hard to say when we will be able to say if the uprisings were a success or not? Much of this will depend on what we define as a success, how long we wait to answer the question, and how we want the question answered. Hopefully the these uprisings have helped things move in the right direction?
My question:
Does the class think that ultimately the uprising from the Arab Spring will prove to have been a success worldwide?
Alex Stoupas
ReplyDeleteChapter 4 - This chapter notes the surprising factors surrounding the uprisings in Algeria and Syria. So much of this I find interesting, so much of this I just didn’t know. While these uprisings were up and running in Egypt and Tunisia, Algeria and Syria were kicken off, and taking to the streets. Just as their friends were doing a couple hundred away. Economic grievances were obvious triggers for these movements. I guess people are saying that these are failed attempts at uprisings, but in my opinion it’s a huge step, getting people to leave the comfort zone of their own home, to voice their opinion, in dedication to future generations well being.
Chapter 5 - It’s pretty impressive that all eight Arab monarchies have survived in this new world, governed by western ideas, and popular sovereignty. They seem to have evolved in the shadow of the European man, and endured American influence all the same. And as the oil flows the money flows, there is a lot of new jobs coming out of Saudi pockets, promising housing, relief, and jobs. The oil game is literally stabilizing the well being of thousands of people, but some at the same time would argue it’s hurting a lot more than it is helping. Interesting conversation.
Chapter 6 - The subtext about “revolutionary waves” caught my eye. Historians say that it might help explain current events, and instruct us about how to deal with similar ones in the future. It dates back to 1789, and though you could go back way further than that, the French revolution is a great start. It was all aspects of liberty, equality, and fraternity, just like we see today. “ Demanding an end to social and political hierarchies. There is a pattern here, so it’s cool that people are picking up on it, and using it to our advantage.
Question - How deep are the Muslim Brotherhoods routes?..
Lindsey Knebel
ReplyDeleteChapter 4
1. One of the biggest surprises for me was that the Syrian Uprisings were a surprise. To be honest i really thought that most of the countries in the middle east were at war with their own countries, could have been from a bad lead I heard or just me mishearing someone or something. However I don't see how the Syrian government didn' think something would happen within their country. Once someone gets the courage to revolt against something there tends to be a trend. The Syrian government should have only been surprised if they were treating their people well. If they were a 100 percent sure that their people were happy or even 80 percent happy that's when they should have been surprised.
Chapter 5
I was very interested and surprised to see that there are still a good amount of monarchies in the Arab World. I was more into knowing as to the reasons behind these governments. The three factors that is present in the book is tradition, religion, and tribalism. As you continue reading it really shows that there isn't really anything that makes it traditional considering that most kingdoms received their independence in the mid to late twentieth century. So this power that these monarchies have is a product of the modern world, not a traditional world.
Chapter 6
I think one of the most interesting things I read in chapter 6 was the section where the headline asks when we will be able to judge the significance of the Arab Springs. As a social studies major i'm taking class about reading and writing history and I feel as though this section, even though its short makes a lot of sense to me and my career, When will we be able to judge the significance?
Question: Would things have gone differently if Arabian countries changed their form of government earlier? What would be the result if there were no longer monarchies?
Alexandra Santiago
ReplyDeleteChapter 4:
When dealing with the surprises of the Arab World the idea that Algeria would be the next on the list would be next. Knowing that the conditions in Algeria were the same as Tunisia and Egypt it is interesting that such a country, known for its trendsetter ways, wasn’t next. These same conditions were the reason Syria was also in shambles. It seemed interesting that one of the reasons why it was so unstable was because they combined the worst aspects of state-dominated economy and the worst of market economy. This is why it is interesting that in Syria the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses are both diversity and loose structure.
Chapter 5:
Morocco is an interesting area in the Arab world. The fact that the country kept its Sultan for such a long period of time due to the fact of nationalism rather than history is fascinating. The Sultan played his cards right and kept control of the militia which ultimately caused the uprisings in 2011. Something that has affected the monarchies is the dependence on oil. When the oil prices declined countries had a tough time but then gained money which they could use to basically bribe their residents, this did not last. It is interesting that they way the monarchies reacted to the protests were with bribes and also acts of violence. They seemed to approach the situation both from a positive and negative reinforcement.
Chapter 6:
The United States every since it declared its global war on terror began trying to pass policies which left no room for justification towards its goals. After the Obama administration policies were created that made it so that policies were adapted to different countries. In Iraq the presence of the US government didn’t actually do much than overthrow the established government, it was the Tahrir Square protests that sparked the idea of democracy in the area. Another place in which not much is hear about is Iran. I ran is an interesting area in which they seam to have taken the defensive stance since the since the uprising have felt as though they are surrounded.
My question is Have the uprising planted a seed in the belief that there is a pan-Arab nation?
Cam Willis
ReplyDelete1/21/14
Chapter 4
I had no Idea Algeria played such a large role in the Arab world. The quote "where ever the Middle East is going, Algeria will be there first" (p94 Gelvin) is a very powerful quote. I think it says what Algeria was aiming for. It surprised me that it was the first state in the Arab world to nationalize its oil and natural gas industries in the 1960s and leading a war for economic rights in the 70's. Algeria seems to be a very progressive in the Arab world.
Chapter 5
Although it as the first thing mentioned in this chapter, I was really surprised by that Arab world had eight monarchies. I am very ignorant when it comes to history of any place but America, I was unsure if Monarchies even still existed. So I was some what excited to hear about them being present in the arab world. People says its because of their culture, religion, and tribalism that they still exist today although their modern ways of kingship and kingdoms have nothing traditional about them.
CHapter 6
I was some what surprised by the conclusion of the Arab Spring. It makes sense to why they view it similar to the french revolution and even comparable to ours. The Arab Spring never really became very real for myself until now. Before class I had never even heard of the revolution. I think its interesting that social media such as twitter can play such a large role. Its not going to be a quick revolution and it is going to take a decent amount of time although I feel that it will succeed in years to come.
Chapter 4:
ReplyDeleteIn the intro, the author points out that everyone, including experts, thought that Algeria would be the next Arab spring country. The fact that they were wrong and completely caught off guard shows how unpredictable this region is. It may not be a good idea to theorize too much; we should instead come up with contingencies for these unexpected situations that seem to happen so often in the Middle East. Also, it seems to me that the current situation in Syria could have been avoided if the government were more lenient towards the protesters. Assad should have compromised rather than forcing them into a revolution. It is also surprising how globalized conflicts like this have become. It is almost impossible to have a "localized" war today. Even in undeveloped parts of the world, a conflict seems to have major powers butting in for their own interests, like the US and Russia in Syria.
Chapter 5:
I find it interesting how many monarchies are still able to rule in the middle east, especially when they are a minority. It seems that the minority ruling the majority would make for a very unstable society, and in some cases it has. Also, I was suprised that these monarchies do not know how to handle protests. The government cannot throw money at a problem and expect that to be a solution. These monarchies need to come up with a real plan to keep their citizens content. It also seems funny that our government and many others around the world are essentially gambling on expert opinions of the middle east. Instead of relying on opinions, we should stop and listen to some of the facts that are actually happening.
Chapter 6:
I did not know that the term "Arab Spring" had been around since 2005. I had only heard it in the context of the uprisings around 2011, not about Iraq. I also continue to be amazed at the situation in Iraq. From writing a previous research paper in Iraq, it is obvious to me that the US invasion was thought up by a few people, mainly the deputy secretary of defense. We took down a government and waited almost 3 years before implementing a new one, and wonder what happened to the country? I never looked at the Arab Spring from Iran's point of view, and that was interesting, and I wonder if they are worried about an uprising in their country.
Question:
What do we actually gain by trying to predict the future political climate in the Middle East, especially when experts seem to be wrong more often than not?
What I found interesting in chapter 4 is how much Algeria is in the forefront in the Arab world. When Arab world is mentioned, most people immediately think of Iraq, Syria, and even Egypt. Algeria rarely makes headlines but in fact seems to be a sort of trendsetter.. “Algeria will get there first”. The failed uprisings in Algeria could possibly be pointed back to the fact that there is a lack of young people, due to the fact that they fled the country looking for better lives elsewhere. What I also found interesting is that the uprisings is Syria were in fact more spontaneous than well planned. It would seem that the dramatic changes in Syria, involving such violence and controversy, would require a lot of thought and planning by the people in order to be effective, but that is not the case. The strikes were more triggered than staged, like the instances in the other uprisings.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 5, I was completely unaware at the number of monarchies in the Arab world, and the significance of those said monarchies. Typically when I think of Monarchy, I think of England, and it is surprising to learn that they are prevalent in the Arab world. Even more intriguing, is that England backed a majority of the monarchies in the Arab world. These monarchies are oil rich, and even Bahrain who is considered more “oil poor” than the rest, still receives 60% of their profit from oil!
In chapter 6, what interested me was the USA’s outlook on their involvement in the middle east, and whether all the time, effort and money was worth it. It was also brought to my attention at the amount of time and effort spent on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. It is interesting that a majority of the military thinks we focused too much on the middle east, when we could have focused more on China and the Pacific Rim.
With the countries involved in the Arab Spring, what are their allies thoughts about the uprisings, revolutions, and abolishing of governments? Are they there to support the strikes? Or to come to the aid to the governments?
Shukran for your excellent insights, Arab Spring'ers!
ReplyDeleteYalla - let's dive deep in class.
Dr. W
Micaela Jawor
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 4 Gelvin explains that the uprisings of January/February in Tunisia failed because of effective repression; inseparability of the military from the regime; the reluctance of the Algerians to have another civil war; a two-decade-long hemorrhaging of young professionals (the people who played a leading role in the Tunisia and Egyptian uprisings); divisions within the protest movement; the leading role in the CNCD identified with an ethnic minority; lack of support on nonbread-and-butter demands; and the key role in the initial riots played by slum dwellers.
In chapter 5 I found it interesting that Morocco still had a king. Gelvin points out that Morocco is a kingdom today is because of their nationalist struggle rather than with the legacy of tradition; even though the king of Morocco bases his right to rule on his descent from a dynasty reaching back as far as the seventeenth century.
In chapter 6 Gelvin asks the question “When will we be able to judge the significance of the Arab uprisings?” I thought this was very interesting because he does not give a straightforward answer. He explains that many outcomes can come from the Arab uprisings, but it is up to us to decide what we think holds the most value.
I would like to know: Why does the United States has to get involved in the Arab Uprisings, when we have a lot of issues to deal with in our own country?
Chapter 4:
ReplyDelete1. The “carrot-and-stick” approach was an interesting tactic that governments used to hold off protesters in countries like Libya and Syria. Carrots represent offerings by the government to appease the protests, like repealing emergency laws and other “cosmetic reforms.” The stick is meant to represent brutality and force that the government used to assert their power (104). It seems like this response to protests was ineffective and possibly added fuel to the fire.
2. An import feature that allowed the Syrian regime to hold power for so long is the phrase “coup-proofing” (109). The three key elements are: appointing family to all prominent positions, making ties with important social figures, and creating a separate military that is loyal to the ruler. This idea of coup-proofing explains why the Syrian government has been so strong in the protests and so difficult to overthrow.
3. International players and outside intervention are responsible for the end of a lot of wars, uprisings, and violence, and the reluctance of other countries to get involved in Syrian affairs seems to be another reason that the protests haven’t achieved their goals. “No international actor really wants to face the risk of an unstable or fragmented Syria such as might follow the collapse of the regime” (115). This quote also highlights that the motivation of international players isn't always peace, but also economic or political.
Chapter 5:
1. In the first part of chapter 5, I was surprised by the amount of British influence in the Middle East, especially in the creation of states. The British “carved” the boundaries of many states and created protectorates, which eventually gained independence (123). I was also surprised that all of the states mentioned were monarchies.
2. The effect of oil on stability, specifically on the “pockets” of governments, had a big impact on uprisings (126). The hydrocarbon-rich countries had “deeper pockets” and could entice their citizens to cooperate by providing subsidies, which allowed those countries an advantage over hydrocarbon-poor countries.
3. “A revealing difference among the monarchies has to do with the role extended monarchical families play in day-to-day governance” (131). If the monarchical family is spread all over the state and in powerful positions, like in Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia, the monarch tends to be targeted in uprisings as the source of corruption. In states like Jordan and Morocco, where there is a functioning parliament, the uprisings tend to target the government system as a whole instead of the monarch.
Chapter 6:
1. “The Obama administration consciously moved away from any all-encompassing doctrine” (144). I feel like the decision to leave old policies behind seemed like the US was giving up on their motivations, but I think it also allowed a wider variety of foreign action. The narrow policies of the Bush administration seemed to limit our actions because we always worried about sticking to our policies.
2. It changed my viewpoint to hear that Bin Laden may not be as important to al-Qaeda as I thought (147). Also, it seems that al-Qaeda’s approval level has gone down with the uprisings. It’s interesting how the new portrays international affairs, like when Bin Laden was killed, it seemed like the greatest accomplishment, even though it may not mean much for al-Qaeda.
3. In the list at the end of the chapter, Gelvin states that the army can be a mixed blessing in an uprising (158). I got the impression through the rest of the book that the army is the key to a successful uprising. When the army stays with the regime, the regime is usually successful, and when the army sides with the protesters, the regime is toast.
Question:
How will the uprisings be resolved? Will outside influence and violence be necessary, or will non-violent protests be effective?
While reading about Algeria in Chapter 4, I felt somewhat dumb for not knowing its role in the Arab world. I for the most part didn't even know that it was a part of the Arab world in the first place, it seemed to me to be a more African country for some reason. While reading about the failed uprising attempts, it was saddening to hear that one of the reasons they failed seemed to be a lack of youth in the country. I feel like while watching news on the uprisings in Egypt a few years ago, it was the youth that you saw in the forefront making the real changes. I definitely believe that with change comes youth, and with youth comes change.
ReplyDeleteObviously I was surprised that monarchs still exist in this modern world. What was more shocking to me is that these different monarchs fluctuate between being very wealthy and very poor because of oil. I remember in Globalization Tech. and Devel. my professor talking about how oil companies in the U.S. can be a major factor to whether a country is rich or poor in the middle east because they can pick and choose who they want oil from.
In chapter 6 it was interesting reading about how the Al-Quaeda plays a part in these uprisings. Surprising to me, their level of support has apparently decreased over the years in the uprisings. Also I'm wondering if the U.S. feels like all the work they did in the Middle East was worth it?
Chapter 4 – The first thing that jumps out to me in this chapter is that at the beginning of the Arab uprising the experts in the region believed the conflicts would not affect Syria, when in fact Syria has seen the most blood shed during the uprising. I also find it interesting the Algerians didn't use social media like the Egyptians did. I assumed that social media played a big role in the beginning, but at the beginning social media was used to gather news not form rallies. Lastly I find it disturbing that the UN Security Council imposed sanctions and used military action against Libya, but didn't lend a hand to Syria.
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 – I did not know that there are more monarchies in the Arab world (eight) than in any other region. It’s interesting to know that oil revenue is a major driving factor for the longevity of the monarchies. I also find it compelling that in the country of Bahrain protest were nothing new, so why did the government come down on the people so harshly?
Chapter 6 – It’s crazy to think that at the beginning of Obamas presidency his administration believed that other than interest in Iran and Afghanistan, the United States thought that issues in the Middle East would solve themselves. Also The United States believed that killing Osama Bin laden would bring an end to Al Qaeda, according to the book in the future Bin Laden’s killing would be known as a “milestone” for Al Qaeda. Lastly I found it interesting that throughout the beginning of the upraising the Isreal-Palestine conflict continued to be a stalemate.
Question: How long can monarchies hold out when faced with mass protests? And do they fair better or worse than western governments?